Friday, May 25, 2012

Back From The Beach ... And Poll Results

Back from a week at the beach where I had limited internet access, nice weather and a good book to read—a recipe for blogging disaster. I don't feel the least bit guilty.

I see that while I was gone, Erich von Stroheim's Greed was your choice for best picture of 1924, narrowly edging Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr.. I'll keep that in mind when my unofficial picks one day become official.

Douglas Fairbanks' swashbuckling classic The Thief of Bagdad finished third, F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh fourth, and Keaton's The Navigator tied with "other" for fifth. Actually, "I have not seen any movie made in 1924" came in third, but we'll skip over that.

While we're here, how about another poll—What is your choice for the best movie of 1925? Arguably, the best year in silent movie history. Your choices, in alphabetical order:

Battleship PotemkinBen-Hur: A Tale of the ChristThe Big ParadeThe FreshmanThe Gold RushLady Windermere's FanThe Lost WorldThe Merry WidowThe Phantom of the OperaSeven ChancesOtherI Have Not Seen Any Movies From 1925

4 comments:

I was quite surpried by "Seven Chances" when I first watched it. I had seen the Chris O'Donnell remake years ago, thought it was horrible and had no idea it was a remake. It's kind of sad how time seems to erase the memory of film unless it's really well known.

I had the same kind of problem with someone who thought the original Parent Trap movie was the one with Lindsay Lohan. Argh.

I had seen the Chris O'Donnell remake years ago, thought it was horrible and had no idea it was a remake.

And I'm the kind of guy who didn't realize Chris O'Donnell had done a remake.

Seven Chances is a Buster Keaton film that seems to have fallen through the cracks a bit, even among Keaton fans. It's a terrific comedy.

By the way, I'm pretty sure the Three Stooges did the gist of Seven Chances twice, once with Curly, once with Shemp. A real opportunity to compare comedic styles. It was only after I delved into silent comedy that I realized that the Stooges were an encyclopedia of old silent gags -- they copied everybody.

the Stooges were an encyclopedia of old silent gags -- they copied everybody ...

Now, it's a sad commentary on me -- I mean, on people -- but a compendium of Stooges bits followed by clips of their bits' origins might-could have the same effect the British blues bands had on 60s kids who otherwise might never have listened to Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson ...

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What are the Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards?

Named for Katie-Bar-The-Door, the Katies are "alternate Oscars"—who should have been nominated, who should have won—but really they're just an excuse to write a history of the movies from the Silent Era to the present day.

To see a list of nominees and winners by decade, as well as links to my essays about them, click the highlighted links:

The Silent Oscars

About Me

Look at me—Joe College, with a touch of arthritis. Are my eyes really brown? Uh, no, they're green. Would we have the nerve to dive into the icy water and save a person from drowning? That's a key question. I, of course, can't swim, so I never have to face it. Say, haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?